That mouse of ours (no photos)

Ok, I don't have any new photos to share, though I did take a new one with my phone so to change my background image. She's changed a lot on 5 weeks.

I've got a couple of minor topics, minor in that they ain't too important, but I'm awake and bored at 5am (as per usual), so you get to hear about them.

More cultural difference about children / food. We've found that swaddling the Mouse helps her sleep. This is well known to help most babies and we're glad it works. The cultural difference is, when I wrap her, I refer to her as a little burrito. When GP wraps her, she says Mouse looks like a zong zi. Maybe she's more of a tamale.

The Mouse was fussy yesterday as GP cooked lunch, so I played with her and decided she'd like some music. We don't have any central stereo in the house, so I used my mobile phone. Turns out she likes Vampire Weekend and she was happy to sing and smile.

Sometimes, especially when she is tired, she'll make eye contact with me and I'll get a feeling that she is more than she appears. Perhaps she is Bene Gesserit, born all-knowing like Alia Atreides. If she has the Voice, the terrible twos will be extra awful.

It looks like the trip is set for Nov 28th. Just waiting for management to approve the flights and housing. I guess they are pretty busy laying off a couple of hundred people.

A bunch of photos - Mouse at 1 month

These photos were taken around the house, out for Mouse's one-month celebration and on our trip to Shanghai for the one-month checkup.

Red knit outfit courtesy of family in Nanjing, pink/pink outfit from Baby Gap, Chinese oversuit from eBaby, and brown/yellow knit sweater made by GP.

Hating the internet

It's stressful enough working on your resume, searching Monster for jobs, etc., but especially aggravating when the DAMNED internet connection of five kinds of flaky!! I need an emoticon here for me throwing the window open and cursing to the gods.

So, now you know what I'm doing, job searching and updating everything on Monster. I hope I don't get to start over AGAIN because the connection needs to "refresh" itself every 10-60 minutes.

Today went surprisingly well. We took the Mouse to Shanghai for her one month checkup and decided to try it by taxi-train-subway-taxi instead of rental car. I have to say, even given the packed train (standing room only) and subway stations (rush hour in a city of 20 million), it was still less stressful than sitting in the car. Mouse slept almost all day and the doctor pronounced her healthy and growing well :) She's at 4.6 kg now (1400 pounds - wait, I did something wrong, 10lbs 2oz) and about 21 inches.

I think one of the major points today that led to success was the Baby Bjorn that I bought in the US. It made carrying the baby very easy and, more importantly, getting on/off trains, in/out of taxis, etc. was MUCH easier than having to use both arms. She seems comfortable and sleeps well in it. I hope this bodes well for success in our US move in 3 weeks.

By the way, it's hard to sneak around the house in "don't startle the sleeping baby" mode when you have Rice Krispies ankles.

home again

The return to China was uneventful (thank jeebuz) and I picked up the Mouse's passport and report of birth abroad (aka US accepted birth certificate). We are halfway to getting her to the US - now need the Chinese authorities' paperwork which we plan to get next week. The packing / shipping will happen on the 19th and we'll fly the 26th or so.

The big issues are: what to ship and what to carry, can we get decent housing or is it Candlewood for 30 days.

And those are the easy issues. Still waiting to hear about my first choice job (in Silicon Valley) and the 2nd choice in Ohio. Need to keep searching for tertiary, et al, opportunities as the Bush-induced recession is making the job pool shrink daily :(

I miss my girls

It's been hard being away from my two girls. On top of interviewing and fairly heavy travel, I'm missing being around the Mouse and I feel guilty that GP has so much to do without me (though her mother is an indispensable help to her). Hopefully this is the last time we are apart for awhile. The time apart will be worth it, though, if I can set up a good future for the three of us.

Ok, Steve, too

Happy Birthday to Steve, the gravel biker from Iowa. I shall hoist a cold, interesting beer to you tonight. Or this morning - hey, traveling across time zones makes you realize it's always noon somewhere :)

Do something fun tonight and send me the photos.

In San Francisco, Happy Birthday Oscar!

So, I've been in San Fran for two days, I have a Friday interview (in about 15 hours) with a company that sounds *very* interesting. If there's an offer from them, it would have to include a big number after the $, though. Cost of living here is high.

I had dinner with Becky (remember her?) last night and it was fun doing a little catch up (she also thinks the Mouse is ultra-cute) and getting her opinion of good and bad in this area. She's doing quite well and offered to babysit if we move to the SF area.

****

Happy Halloween Birthday to Oscar, the cutest 1 year old boy in China (his mom is one of my (former) engineers). Let's all wish him a happy and healthy (he has a cold) 1st birthday.

Keeping busy

As if a new baby wasn't enough work (and it's much more work for GP than for me), I've decided to take the job interviews by the horns (so to speak).

I'm flying to the US this Wednesday and have 2 of 3 interviews set up. They are numbers 1 & 2 on my priority list, so if the third doesn't fall in place, I won't be too upset. I think I've given up on the Belgium job; it sounds very interesting, but trying to meld into another culture, with a foreign wife and new baby seems like more effort than it is worth.

So, I'll get in Wednesday night, hopefully interview in LA on Thursday, San Francisco on Friday, fly to Columbus and visit 1dreamr and interview on Monday. Tuesday is either a rest day in SF or the LA interview (if it isn't Thursday). Wednesday, back to Shanghai where I HOPE to pick up the Mouse's US passport. Then we can start the paperwork to have her give up her automatic Chinese citizenship. If all of THAT works well, we'll move to the US sooner than expected, though maybe not in time for Thanksgiving.

Today was a cool, sunny day and we decided to take the Mouse for her first official walk. She did well, sleeping until 5 minutes from home and then crying for food. We made a note to bring a bottle next time. It's all preparation for the big move to the US - anyone volunteer to fly her home for us?

A visit from Grandma

GP's mom is visiting for a week or two to cook all the traditional Chinese "just had a baby" foods and help with the baby. Gives me time to blog, though I am mostly cooking my own food ;) She's a great lady and we get along well; she speaks no English and I can't understand her Chinese, so we remain on good terms.

As soon as she cleared the door, I took her bag and she ran to hold the baby. Who can blame her.

UPDATE: I don't know why, but I can't get the photos uploaded to the server. I will keep trying.

UPDATE 2: It worked when I went through the US VPN. Ah, Chinese internet. I took the opportunity to add a photo of the Mouse with Aunt Tracy, too.